In a break from the British Touring Car Championship, Jake Hill was once again victorious at the Goodwood Revival.

In a busy weekend at the ‘World’s Greatest Historic Motorsport event’ which included a mixture of heavy rain and blue skies, Hill took on the challenge of racing three very different cars  at the Goodwood Revival, taking Victory in the final event of the weekend, the Freddie March Trophy to add to two superb podium finishes in the St. Mary’s Trophy and the RAC TT earlier in the weekend.

Hill, took to the soaking wet 2.38 mile long track on Friday in qualifying in the Era Motorsport-prepared 1964 Plymouth Barracuda ‘Muscle-Car’ ,where despite never having driven the car before he qualified a brilliant fourth, best of the V8 cars in conditions that favoured the nimble Minis and Alfa Romeos, and in a grid packed full of star cars and drivers.

“A wild ride! Such a fun car but pretty sketchy in these conditions. Really pleased to have been the fastest of the ‘big’  cars, should be fun in the race”

Starting Saturday’s 25 minute race on a drying track, Hill made a strong start and immediately passed the Minis of Soper and Buncombe and closed down on leader Stippler’s Alfa Romeo, nosing into the lead on the back straight before the German star edged back ahead.

As the race unfolded Hill closed and challenged several times, fighting off the closing Andrew Jordan and Andy Priaulx, before back markers saw the gap extend, and a charging Romain Dumas in his mighty 700bhp Ford Galaxie caught Hill on the last lap, the pair crossing the line just 8/100ths of a second apart, with Hill just holding on to Second Place.

“Wow, what a race. That was the first time I had driven the ‘Cuda in the dry, and it was pretty lairy – I had a couple of big old slides, and it was right on the edge. Frank was just inch perfect, and Romain was on a mission so I am absolutely delighted to have taken Runner-Up spot in such a mega field of drivers. A massive thank you to Kyle Tilley and the whole Era Motorsport crew for asking me to drive, I have absolutely loved it”

Next up was the RAC TT racing the iconic AC Cobra with the car’s owner Olly Bryant, qualifying the mighty car an excellent 3rd only to be frustrated when officials deemed a suspension component to be ineligible and the car would be forced to start from the back of the grid for the 60 minute race on Sunday.

With Bryant starting 29th on the grid, the aim was to make as much progress as possible before handing over to Hill at the 20 minute mark in the race, however ‘progress’ was an understatement as by the end of lap one the stunning Red and Gold machine was already up to P14, and over the next few laps a charging Bryant was into the top six!

Over the remaining laps before the pit window opened Bryant caught and passed the Cobras of Verdon-Roe and Smith, handing the car over to Hill in a remarkable P2, having made up 27 places in just under 15 minutes!

Hill charged into action and began closing on leader Alex Brundle, before a Safety Car intervened and closed the pack up, and at the re-start the BTCC star quickly caught and then passed the leading E-Type, before setting a series of blistering laps to pull away from the pack.

However the TVR Griffith 400 of BTCC rival Tom Ingram was charging too, setting fastest laps as he edged closer to Hill as the race wound down.

The pair then engaged in a brilliant battle, Ingram passing and being immediately repasssed into Madgwick, and then running side-by-side around the lap to the cheers of the passionate fans.

But with less than three minutes remaining Ingram was able to use his superior straight-line speed to blast past on the back straight, and despite Hill putting in a last-lap charge held on to Win by 0.8 seconds in a thrilling finish.

“We were aiming for a top-six or maybe a podium finish after starting dead last, but thanks to Olly’s amazing drive I was able to get to the lead and pull away. The car was fantastic – a huge thanks to Graeme and Olly Bryant for giving me this amazing chance to drive one of my dream cars – and to Steve Gilbey for preparing the car so brilliantly. The Safety Car closed everything up and without that we had a big enough lead that we would have got it done, but the organisers added three minutes on the the race time because of the Safety Car, and Tom passed me with just over two minutes remaining….but fair-play to Tom, he was on it – I raced and Won in a TVR earlier this year and they are a weapon in a straight line – so I knew it would be tough but gave it all I could. Loved it, what a car and what a battle!”

Hill’s final event was also the final race of the weekend, driving the elegant Heather Green coloured 1954 HWM-Jaguar in the Freddie March Trophy.

Having slithered to a dominant Pole Position in Friday’s soaking wet practice, he drove the car in the dry for the first time since last year’s event, and a steady start saw him drop to third place behind the mammoth Cadillac ‘Battlebird’ and fellow HWM racer Richard Woolmer.

Hill edged closer to Shepherd in the Cadillac and soon passed, then catching a sideways Woolmer at the end of lap two and passing the Cadillac powered machine as they exited the chicane on lap three to take the lead.

Gradually pulling away, the race looked under control until back markers came into play, and Woolmer took advantage of Hill being delayed to nip ahead, bouncing spectacularly down the grass in the process!

As they began lap 12 Hill again got a better exit from the chicane, then pulled away, setting Fastest Lap as he took his maiden Win at the Goodwood Revival by 3.53 seconds to round out a marvellous weekend.

“So very happy! After coming so close in the other two races I was determined to get this done! A huge thank you to the car’s owner Jonathan Turner for again trusting me with this beautiful car, and to the true gentleman that is Gregor Fiskin for making it happen. A wonderfully prepared car by Harry and Dave and the team – such a fun car to drive. Good battle with Richard (Woolmer) who is fun to race with, so a brilliant end to a special, special weekend. Also a big thanks to my partners  Diamondbrite, Scalextric and of course ek robotics for their amazing support for my Historic Motorsport campaigns this season, and to Josh & Charles from Global Credit Recoveries for joining us on Friday,- hugely appreciated”

Hill will now focus on preparing for the final two weekends of the BTCC, at Silverstone and Brands Hatch, with the Championship finely poised.

“We have had a great run so far, the car is working well and my team at Laser Tools MB Motorsport have been brilliant all season. It will be tough and probably very close but I feel ready for the fight. Let’s see what we can do”

Silverstone BTCC is 21-22 September with the final round at Brands Hatch GP circuit on 5-6th October, both shown live on ITV4.

Images courtesy of Goodwood Pictures & Era Motorsport